First Time Engine Installation

New race engines are like newborn babies -- you are excited to bring them both home for the first time, they both cost a lot more than you expect, and both require special care and feeding at first to make sure they live a long and healthy life. The difference is when your race engine spits up something, it probably means your night of racing is done and you have a big repair bill ahead.

But by taking a few extra precautions with a new race engine, you can help ensure many nights of great racing, and hopefully more than a few trips to Victory Lane. Our baby analogy pretty much runs out at this point, but hey, aren’t you glad we didn’t go for the low-hanging fruit and make a dirty diaper joke?

So whether you have a new motor that has never been broken in on the dyno, like a crate engine or one you have built yourself, or if you are installing a double-throwdown beast that has seen several hours of tuning on a dyno by your engine builder, these steps should be taken whenever you install a new engine in the race car for the first time.

2/14<strong>1. </strong>Use a paint marker now to mark the timing where the engine will run. This will make it easier to find when the engine is in the car and running.

3/14<strong>2. </strong>If you have a wet sump engine, after priming you will need to reinstall the distributor and get the timing set as accurately as possible without firing the engine or using a timing light. With the crank turned to the proper mark on your timing pointer install the distributor so that the rotor points toward the number one cylinder. The plug wire directly above the pointer should attach to the spark plug for cylinder number one.

4/14<strong>3. </strong>Once the distributor is in place, you can fine-tune the timing by rotating the distributor housing around the shaft and rotor. For a magnetic trigger system, make sure one of the reluctors is centered over the pickup (the blue box).

Prime Consideration

If the oil galleries aren’t full of oil, your engine can suffer severe damage in the second or two it takes the oil pump to push oil through the galleries and to all the places it needs to be in your engine. The process of priming the engine’s oil galleries before firing it up is fairly simple. For a wet sump motor, you must pull the distributor and spin the oil pump input shaft either by hand or with a drill. For a dry sump motor with an external pump the process is simpler, all you have to do is remove the oil pump drive belt and spin up the pump with a fitting on a drill.

Engaging the internal oil pump on a wet sump engine does require a special tool. Normally these are available for less than $30 at your local speed shop, or you can make your own by cannibalizing an old distributor. Either way, make sure to spin the pump until you have oil pressure throughout the engine. Many racers simply spin the pump until they see a change in the oil pressure gauge and then keep going and extra minute or so just for safekeeping, but you can also pull one of the valve covers and spin the pump until you see oil coming up through the rocker arms.

Whenever you prime a wet sump engine, that means you have to pull the distributor so that you can access the oil pump

If you have just brought home your engine from dyno testing, priming the motor again may not be necessary. But if your engine has not been on the dyno, spending a little time priming the oil system is vital. You should also consider priming the oil galleries if the engine has been sitting dormant through the off-season.

Setting Timing

Whenever you prime a wet sump engine, that means you have to pull the distributor so that you can access the oil pump. Reinstalling the distributor and getting the timing set correctly within a few degrees without the luxury of a timing light is an important skill. You need the engine to crank quickly because oil pumps don’t begin working well until the engine is at idle rpm. Several minutes spent spinning the engine over with the starter while you try to figure out what is going wrong can lead to both damaged bearings and scuffed cylinder walls. Not only will having the engine timing set correctly help your expensive motor fire up and run smoothly right away, it is also critical to avoid having the timing set so advanced that the engine can possibly go into detonation before you have an opportunity to verify you have the correct timing with the help of a timing light.

5/14<strong>4. </strong>If you are using an optical trigger ignition like this unit from Crane, set the optical trigger wheel (on this Chevrolet it turns clockwise) so that the window opening is just visible on the right side of the pickup (the black tab at the 12 O’clock position in this photo).

6/14<strong>5. </strong>Take a moment to make sure all the plug wires are routed so that they aren’t touching the headers. The plug boots may need to be insulated if they are too close to the headers to keep them from melting. Use zip-ties or some type of wire loom to secure the plug wires so that they won’t be able to come into contact with the headers once you hit the track.

7/14<strong> 6. </strong>A dab of dielectric grease between the end of the plug and the plug boots will help ensure a solid electrical connection and reduce the chances of an engine miss. It also helps keep out dust and grit.

Thankfully, if you pay attention you can set the engine timing within a couple of degrees accuracy before the engine is ever fired. The first step is to verify the number one cylinder is on the compression stroke. You can do this by pulling the spark plug and holding your finger over the whole. Spin the engine over with a wrench (you may need to have someone help you) until you feel air pressure pushing against your finger. Now you know that cylinder is on the compression stroke. Now, using the timing pointer and the scale on your harmonic damper, set the engine on your timing mark. For most Chevrolet race engines with stock cylinder heads, this is around 36 to 39 degrees before top dead center.

With the engine’s crank in the right position, install the distributor with the cap off so that you can see the rotor. Make sure the rotor is pointed toward the No. 1 cylinder. If you are using a mechanical advance, open up the advance by hand when setting the rotor. If you don’t do this, the events will kick in when the engine is revved up and set the timing so advanced that detonation becomes likely. Now when you install the distributor cap, mark the terminal directly over the point of the rotor so that you won’t lose track of which one is firing. When hooking up your spark plug wires, the terminal that you have marked should go to the spark plug in the number one cylinder.

Check Your Plumbing

Whenever you’re installing your engine, it’s also a great time to check all of your plumbing. And if the reason you are installing a new engine is because you blew up the old one, you absolutely must make sure all of your external oil lines are clean and free of debris. For a dry sump engine, this means everything from the engine to the pump to the external tank and back. If you race a wet sump engine you are not off the hook either. If you run an oil cooler you must make sure that any of those lines are flushed and clean as well.

if the reason you are installing a new engine is because you blew up the old one, you absolutely must make sure all of your external oil lines are clean and free of debri

If you run and inline fuel filter, double check to make sure it is installed correctly. Inline filters are designed to work with the fluid flowing in a particular direction. Most fuel filters have an arrow designating which way to flow through it, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be installed backwards by accident. If this happens it will severely limit the amount of fuel making it to your engine.

8/14<strong>7. </strong>If you are priming a dry-sump engine, be aware that there is a lot of volume inside all those hoses that must be filled with oil before the engine will see oil pressure. Just be patient and use an electric drill when spinning over the external oil pump to speed up the process.

9/14<strong>8. </strong>The blue cartridge just above the shock on this Dirt Late Model is the inline fuel filter. The filter must be installed correctly, if it’s installed in the car backwards it will significantly limit fuel flow to the engine and will cause problems.

10/14<strong>9. </strong>The same holds true for a remote mount oil filter. Check the markings to make sure you have plumbed the inlet and outlet correctly. Crossing the lines will in most cases result in no oil pressure.

Time to Burp

No, this isn’t an invitation for rudeness. We mean you should burp the coolant to make sure you don’t leave any air pockets in either the radiator or the engine’s water jackets. One of the easiest ways to do this is to leave the upper radiator hose off the engine when filling the radiator with coolant. Slowly fill the radiator with water until you see it beginning to come out of the water neck on top of the engine. This makes it easy for any air bubbles to make their way out of the engine. Then attach the upper radiator hose and continue filling the system. The additional water will backfill the upper radiator hose and you should have an air-free coolant system.

Make the Rumble

When you do fire the engine up, it can be helpful to have one or two members of your crew on hand. Have one person keep an eye on the gauges and near the ignition cutoff switch in case a problem is spotted. Another person should be on the lookout for any water, oil, or fuel leaks. And everyone should keep their ears open for strange sounds. Make sure you have your timing light hooked up and ready so that you can ensure the correct timing, and adjust it as necessary, right away. Don’t let the engine idle for too long, go ahead and rev it up to 2,000 rpm or so to get the oil pressure up.

11/14<strong>10. </strong>If this is the first time the engine will be fired after assembly, make sure you use quality break-in oil. While the engine is breaking in, it’s producing a lot of contamination. Break-in oil helps speed the process (versus your race oil) while protecting the engine. After the break-in is complete and the rings are seated, drain and replace the oil to flush out the contaminants and change the oil filter before heading to the track.

12/14<strong>11. </strong>If you are running solid flat tappet lifters, during the break-in process the lash will open up slightly. Pull the valve covers and reset the lash. If the lash has changed by more than a few thousands, however, you likely have a problem that requires more investigation.

13/14<strong>12. </strong>Heat cycles also tend to loosen header bolts. After the engine cools, take a few minutes to hit all the header bolts with a wrench to avoid a power-robbing exhaust leak.

14/14<strong>13 .</strong>Have your timing light hooked up and ready to go so that you can verify the ignition timing and adjust it if necessary. Timing can vary by a few degrees from idle to redline, so always make sure to check your timing somewhere around the midpoint of the rpm range the engine will see on the track.

This is also a good time to have an infrared temperature gun handy. Using the gun, check the temps near all the cylinders on both heads, or at the exhaust pipes, to make sure they are warming up at an equal rate. This can help you spot a dead cylinder quickly. Also, do not forget to check that the temperature is coming up in the radiator. If the radiator stays cold that means you have a coolant flow issue.

The process of priming the engine’s oil galleries before firing it up is fairly simple

If the engine is new, begin your break-in procedure. If you are unsure how to properly break-in a new engine, a quick search on circletrack.comshould reveal several stories we’ve done on the topic. After the break-in is complete, recheck valve lash if you are running a flat tappet cam and re-tighten all the header bolts as they have a tendency to work themselves loose. This is also a great time to change the oil, especially if you are running break-in oil, as well as the oil filter.

And that’s about it. With your first fire-up behind you, it’s time to go hit the racetrack and have some fun.